Origins of rice cytoplasmic male sterility genes

摘要

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) factors have long been known in some wild plants,and also in some domesticated species,where they are used to produce plants to be used as maternal parents,for example to breed hybrids that display hybrid vigor.Their origins have been mystifying,and now a study recently published in Cell Research helps understand how one widely-used rice CMS factor evolved.